Gunnar's POV

I could still feel the remnants of poison from the Blackbane core still burning like acid in my veins, turning every breath into a knife twist between my ribs. 

I lay on the wide bed in my private chamber, shirt already stripped off by my servants earlier, my chest bare and slick with the sweat of fever. 

My trousers hung low on my hips, the only thing left covering me. I could barely lift my arms without pain shooting through my shoulders, but none of that mattered. Riley was trapped inside whatever hellish portal Carian had created-locked away, unreachable, unless I gave this witch exactly what she wanted....